


Up the river

by StrawberryLane



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Magical, Alternate Universe - Prison, Child Abuse, Credence Barebone-centric, Credence and kind of Percival are the main players here the others are just supporting cast, Dark Original Percival Graves, Implied Relationships, Irish Mob, M/M, Murder, Post-Prison, kind of, mobster percival graves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-03
Updated: 2017-02-03
Packaged: 2018-09-21 20:20:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9564797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrawberryLane/pseuds/StrawberryLane
Summary: If there's something Credence knows how to do, it's how to not draw attention to himself. He's good at making himself small, at playing dumb, at not fighting back.Percival Graves do not share these traits.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This whole thing exists because I was reading about american gangsters in the 1920s-1930s on wikipedia a couple of days ago. And it was supposed to be longer, but I lost inspiration, as I usually do fairly quickly.
> 
> The prison in this little fic of mine is a real one, though I only used the name and not any actual facts about it. [Here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sing_Sing) is the Wikipedia article about the place, in case you're interested. The expression "up the river" (as in, someone's heading to prison) derives from Sing Sing, which is another thing I decided to use.
> 
> The White Hand Gang was, in fact, a [real](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Hand_Gang) gang, made up of various american irish gangs during the 1900s-1925, as a response to the Italian gangsters.

He's being sent up the river.

Somehow Credence had failed to take into account that killing one's mother - abusive witch as she may have been - usually ended in some kind of punishment. So after weeks and weeks of trials and interrogations, the judge has finally settled on a fitting punishment.

Credence is going up the river. He's going to Sing Sing.

He doesn't think he's ever been this scared in his entire life, not even that time Ma decided the best thing to do was to lock him in the cellar and forget about him for close to a week.

Chastity and Modesty hadn't been allowed to accompany him on his one way journey to the prison. They'd been forced to stay behind, promising to come visit as soon as they could, though Credence doubts he'll see them for months. Now that Ma's dead, money's more of an issue than it ever was before. And with Credence in prison and Modesty still so very much a child, Chastity will become the sole provider for Modesty.

So no, he probably won't see them for a while.

The huge brick building in which he will spend the next couple of years, because who knows how long it'll really be, looms over him where he's standing between his two guards. Why they decided he needed two guards as well as the cuffs around his feet and wrists that are connected by a long, surprisingly durable chain, is a mystery to Credence. He can hardly walk as it is, why would he need to be chaperoned by Misters Cigarette Smoke and Bald Patch as well?

Credence is nowhere near important enough for the warden himself to come down to greet him, so he's led right up to the reception, where he's signed in by a blonde lady with a flirtatious laugh, and taken to his cell.

It's a small room, barley space enough for a cot, a rickety chair, a toilet in a corner and also a shelf for him to put his stuff on. Not that he has any stuff.

There's no door to his cell, only metal bars. The same goes for the small window above the chair.

It's a very depressing space.

*

Credence does his best to stay out of everyone’s ways. He doesn't need attention, not here, not anywhere else. He just wants to focus on getting through his sentence and getting out, on being reformed in the eyes of society. All he wants to do is make his way back to Chastity and Modesty and some kind of semblance of a real life.

He spends most of his time alone, except when he's working – the prisoners who are not in solitary are meant to be doing daily chores – and during those times he keeps to himself, is careful not to get noticed by anyone who might want him harm.

If there's something Credence knows how to do, it's how to not draw attention to himself. He's good at making himself small, at playing dumb, at not fighting back.

Percival Graves does not share these traits.

Percival Graves used to be a member of the White Hand Gang and the Irish mob in general, before the gang met its downfall in 1925, partly due to Graves himself. According to Newt Scamander, Credence's closest neighbor and occasional dinner company, Graves is in prison for murdering his boss, Gellert Grindelwald, because of a disagreement of some kind or other.

Credence doesn't know what to say to that. So instead, he keeps his head down and watches as Percival Graves fights with everyone around him. Credence wants to yell at the older man to keep his temper to himself, to not let his pride get the best of him.

It's surprisingly difficult to keep quiet.

Two years after Credence's arrival at Sing Sing, Newt is free as a bird, promising Tina Goldstein, the sole female guard in this place, that he won't illegally smuggle animals ever again. Credence knows for a fact that the man is lying.

Chastity and Modesty have been to visit twice and send weekly letters. Credence sends his own letters back, though his are so very dull and repetitive. Chastity has found work as a seamstress and Modesty is attending school. They live in a rented apartment above a bakery. The owner of the bakery, one Mr Kowalski, is funnily enough engaged to be married to the blonde lady who signed Credence in when he first got to Sing Sing. Her name is Queenie and she's one of few sources of happiness Credence has in this place. She's also the sister of Tina the guard.

It's funny how the world is really such a small place.

Credence is still very good at keeping his head down, and that is what he's planning on continuing doing when Tina tells him he's getting a new neighbor now that Newt has moved on.

Imagine Credence's surprise when he's woken up one morning to the sound of Percival Graves threatening horrible pain to anyone who dares say an insulting word to Tina Goldstein ever again.

As it turns out, childhood friends can find each other again in the most unlikely places.

Slowly but surely Credence gets to know the man on the other side of the wall from him. Graves tells him that yes, the rumors are partly true, he killed Gellert Grindelwald. But he didn't kill him because of some petty argument about some gun moll, but because Grindelwald, in Percival's words, was beginning to let his power get to his head, to believe himself to be above and beyond any other human being.

He started doing crazy shit that endangered not only himself, but the very gang he claimed to be righteous leader of, too.

Credence, amazed and horrified by the tales told by the other man, doesn't even notice when he begins to call Graves by his given first name instead.

Newt writes – in a heavily edited letter – to tell Credence that he's arrived safely in Australia, and to send his regards along to Tina, who it's no secret the red-haired man has a soft spot for. If he notices that "Gangster Graves" has changed to "Percival," in Credence's answering letter, he doesn't call Credence on it.

They eat their meals together sometimes and Credence finds he really enjoys the other man's company, even if his being somewhat friends with Percival Graves brings some unwanted attention from other gang members who think they can use Credence to start shit. Fortunately for Credence, these other prisoners don't get very far with their plans before Percival sets his counter attack into motion.

Credence thought he knew fear, knew how to handle being petrified. But seeing the sick, nasty grin on Percival's face as he's standing in the middle of the canteen, surrounded by injured prisoners and his clothes painted red by the blood of the enemy, Credence thinks he might not have known what fear actually is, what it truly entails, until this very moment.

He doesn't know what their relationship is, not really. He thinks he might be in love with Percival, but then again he doesn't actually know what love – other than the kind he has for his sisters and for Newt - is. He doesn't know what the difference between real love and just a simple infatuation is. He's not even sure there really is a difference.

Credence gets released from prison one sunny day in June. His first steps out in the free world again are accompanied by the very tangible fear that this is just a wonderful, horrible dream. That he's going to wake up, drenched in his own sweat, still under the blanket on his small cot in the cell that has been his home for the last five years.

He's being released because his behavior has been excellent, despite his worrisome closeness to a known, very violent, mob boss, according to official looking men in fancy suits. Men who have never met Percival Graves themselves, men who are letting the rumors about the man form their opinion of him.

Credence hopes they burn in hell, even if he sometimes thinks they might be right. Nothing will come of it, either way. Percival Graves is never leaving Sing Sing. Not whilst still alive, at least.

Credence moves in with Chastity and Modesty, who both have grown into beautiful young women. Chastity has a steady boyfriend, whom Credence doesn't exactly like, but doesn't dislike either. She's now the head at the seamstress shop. Modesty's still dutifully attending school, though she confides in Credence that it's more because she has too, than because she finds it truly interesting. Credence does his part of the household chores, pays his part of the rent on Chastity's apartment by working in Mr Kowalski's bakery and generally makes sure the girls know he's incredibly grateful they waited for him all these years.

Life goes on and Credence truly thinks he might be leaving his existence in prison behind him for good when he wakes up one morning to the newspapers crying, in big, bold headlines, about a breakout from Sing Sing.

The escaped prisoner is none other than Percival Graves.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you liked it!


End file.
